The heat in the upper six miles of the Earth's crust contains 50,000 times as much energy as found in all the world's oil and gas reserves combined. Despite this abundance, only 10,700 megawatts of geothermal electricity generating capacity have been harnessed worldwide.

Sebastian Pinera’s first bill as a Chilean senator 20 years ago aimed to protect the environment. He later created an island nature reserve. Now president, he may oversee approval of a $7 billion project that would flood Patagonian valleys and stretch cables across protected forests.

In the early eighties, Chile was a world leader in modernizing its electricity sector by privatizing state assets and creating a competitive environment. Now, it has the chance to be a leader again in the “green power” revolution if it modernizes its electricity sector to fix the places where it is not working. To do this, Chile first needs to take the planning of the sector public.

Chile has all imaginable potential to become a Latin American leader in renewable energy development. Yet despite its extraordinary and varied natural resources, apparent political will, institutional stability, and an economy thirsty for new jobs, the sector seems to be growing rather hesitantly. During a recent trip to Santiago, my colleagues Susan Casey-Lefkowitz and Douglass Sims, and I, heard time and again why: there is a widespread perception that the costs of renewable technologies are too high and so they are not economically viable. But if the total, real costs of the alternatives – large hydro and coal – are calculated, renewables suddenly look a lot more attractive.